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From HIMSS 3/2/10 (Part 2)

March 3, 2010 News 13 Comments

jbin 

From Clingy: “Re: your party. You do realize that, last night, your party became the party that everybody will have — and want — to attend? I’m sure it already was that, but now everybody else will know that, too. I think you may have to resort to a lottery for invites in Orlando…  Or you may have to rent a stadium.” I really appreciate the nice comments about the party, but I’m passing the kudos along to Amy Glass and Inga since I was too busy to jump in during those final weeks to set it up. Actually, I’ll thank a third group: those who booed and cheered during the HISsies, who enjoyed each other’s company even though many of them are on-field competitors, and who made up a darned impressive group. It’s the only time I get to see who’s reading and it recharges me for another year. If Jonathan Bush doesn’t win something next time, I may have to stuff the ballot box just so he can chew the scenery again. He was supposed to be on for like five minutes, but turned it into its own extravaganza (recall that this was the first business day after ATHN shares gapped down, but you would never have known it from his hilarious performance surrounded by the stock analysts in the room).

From Jim: “Re: your party. The HIStalk party rocks! This was the best party I have been to in the 15 years I have been going to HIMSS events. People were having a genuine great time and mingling nicely – something that would happen at a party you want to go to, not you feel you have to go to. Can’t wait to come again next year!”

bagpiper

maxlagers

Above are a couple of pictures taken by Dr. Gregg Alexander of the bagpiper and Max Lager’s. I thought it was a very cool place – lots of brick and wood character, beer tanks, and genuinely attentive staff (I could barely set my beer down before someone wanted to bring me a new one, which was just fine with me). The DJ kept the music going without being obtrusive. I asked Inga to take the large poster that you can barely make out on the very left, which had a giant beer glass with the HIStalk logo. It looked like a great souvenir.

From Gregg Alexander: “Re: HIStalk reception. All those who attended can attest, all proper propers belong to Ivo, Inga, and Mr. H for organizing an exceptionally fun evening. Great job, guys, a truly fun time…thank you!” We had some recognition for direct caregivers during the reception and it’s guys like Dr. Gregg who ought to be honored. People forget how hard pediatricians work for a relative modest paycheck while the procedure guys need a wheelbarrow to get the cash to the bank.

judy 

I’m so proud of this picture by DrLyle and I’m moving Judy Faulkner of Epic way up on the cool-o-meter. I had e-mailed her ahead of time and told her Epic had won in several categories and she also in the category of “Industry Figure with Whom You Would Most Like to Drink a Few Beers.” She e-mailed back and said the strongest thing she drinks is milkshakes, but she might drop by (riiiight). On the 1% chance she actually would, Inga had her a “No Pie for Me” sash made to celebrate her “loss” to Cerner’s Neal Patterson for the “Industry Figure in Whose Face You Would Most Like to Throw a Pie.” I am totally shocked and honored that she and Carl Dvorak dropped by because I know she doesn’t really like that kind of stuff and there really wasn’t anything in it for her or Epic. She even joked around with Jonathan Bush. Judy, I had you figured for a pretty cool lady, but now I’m certain. Epic won all the “good” HISsies categories, so it was kind of like a KLAS report.

I think we’ve discovered a natural female attractant in those sashes. Someone sent in a pic of one of our male sash-wearers who wore it back to his own hotel and he was getting lots of female attention. I bet we get more volunteers next year.

From GG: “Re: Charlie Munger. How long until you and Inga get a $20,000 check?” Warren Buffet’s homespun partner reads Atul Gawande’s New Yorker article on healthcare costs, and then writes him a $20,000 check and sends it to the magazine, telling them to give it to Gawande, who then donated it to Brigham and Women’s. I had a nice chat today with some smart vendor people who observed how broken the HIT journalism model is (they refused to even call it journalism) and how hard it is for up-and-coming vendors to afford the megabuck ad spreads that seem to help get companies featured. I like scrappy newcomers, so they will always have a spot here if what they offer helps patients.

3m

From KZ: “Re: have you checked out the race car simulator in the 3M HIS booth?” How did I miss that, especially when I’m running a text ad for it? Somehow I didn’t see it.

From HITMAN: “Re: David Blumenthal. Interesting – a large number of CIOs received an invitation last night at about 7:30 to attend a meeting with David Blumenthal this morning at 8:30. Apparently the response was large – they turned away many by e-mail and may have a second session set up for later Tuesday.  David opened the session with about three minutes of welcome and thanks then said he was there to listen to us. Of about 75 in the room, about 20 made comments about the need for federal leadership on master patient index, about the challenge of all-or-nothing meaningful use, about the need to include ED CPOE in meaningful use criteria, and about the compressed timeline we are working under. All were polite and he had two minutes of thanks at the end. He said he is not allow to comment about ongoing work and regulations, and was happy for the pointed feedback. Good that he asked for the feedback but it was all over the place and I am not sure how much he could have gotten from the session.” I heard some CMS people talking about it on the escalator.

Check out David Brooks’ HIMSS coverage on HIStalk Mobile.

Henry Schein announces its ConnectHealth initiative that packages products and services from a number of vendors for physician practices: Allscripts, Midmark, Siemens, Welch Allyn, Dell, and Medline.

Content management vendor Hyland (the OnBase people) acquires hosted medical workflow solutions vendor eWebHealth.

SIS introduces Anesthesia View, a new module in SIS Analytics. I asked someone in the booth today about the Inga-tinis and they said they were flying out the door yesterday evening.

Former QuadraMed CEO Keith Hagen is named COO of digital pathology solutions vendor Aperio.

The latest radio show from Intellect Resources interviews a number of HIT experts, including Texas Health CIO Ed Marx, on security.

Keane will offer EmpowerED as an ED module for its Optimum solution.

In the UK, NPfIT is trying to quickly sign billions in extension contracts with CSC and BT before the elections, hoping to keep the struggling program financially alive.

nathan

I forgot to mention it yesterday, but I attended the best HIMSS session I have ever seen, which few saw since it was on the military systems track. It was given by Rear Admiral Matthew L. Nathan MD, Commander, Navy Medicine National Capital Area, National Naval Medical Center on their pilot project for an integrated medical home. I can only say it was brilliant, covering the need for preventive care and EMR outreach programs as well as the practicalities of delivering medical services remotely (such as to a ship in the South China Sea, but with the same challenges as to a rural town). Given the military’s experience with the healthcare models we’ll probably need everywhere and considering his obvious capabilities, he ought to be leading the charge. While everybody else was slobbering over meaningful use, he was covering the real healthcare issues that stimulus money can’t fix.

HIMSS attendee count so far: 25,989, but fewer vendor people. I should also say, that despite my occasional disagreements with what HIMSS does, they are superb at managing conference logistics. I noticed no proceedings CD in the tote this year, but I assume they’re free online since I always review them later.

I have lots pictures and stuff that folks have sent, but I’m beat. Here’s a final little show floor wrap-up.

  • I had a great visit with the people from enterprise forms management vendor Access, who not only have a great product, they also have a championship barbeque team that can cook hundreds of pounds of pork butt or brisket at a time. I naturally begged them to load up the 40-foot smoker at the next HIMSS and watch people pack the booth for a taste.
  • MEDecision had nice umbrellas out to take, which was nice since it poured cold rain all morning and then snowed for most of the rest of the day.
  • The Eclipsys booth was packed.
  • I wanted to caress all the stuff in Enovate’s booth as usual since their carts have the sexiest curves you can imagine. They also had a cool green pony saddle seat that I spun around in a road test and it was sweet.
  • Big crowd at Allscripts.
  • For some reason, I found myself wanting coffee and a shoeshine a lot (back me up, guys).
  • ICA had their HIStalk sign out and had a demo of their HIE solution running with Sevocity.
  • iMDsoft’s telemedicine app was one of the coolest ones I saw.
  • Keane had our sign out too – thanks!
  • athenahealth’s booth was packed.
  • The guy doing electronic caricatures at the Televox booth was fascinating to watch.
  • Sunquest had our sign out, too, and I still like their green color and their bags.
  • Picis had a crowd and also our sign out.


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Currently there are "13 comments" on this Article:

  1. Mr. HISTalk, I have to agree, many of the Military Sessions have significant value when you are looking for some pearls of wisdom. From a technology perspective, they operate the largest Clinical Data Repository, one of the largest data warehouse environments, an incredible telemedicine network, have significant best of breed integration challenges, and are dealing with replacement of a legacy electronic medical record along with data exchange with the VA. From a clinical perspective, they deal with most everything as they treat not only the servicemen and women, but also many of their families or some of the local populations around their bases. They also struggle with clinician adoption, like other organizations. From a business model perspective, they deal with managed care, “multiple payers”, and various levels of outsourcing.

  2. I’m not at HIMSS this week, but will be sending my shoes – please have them shined and buffed
    Thx

  3. Surpsised no mention of the Helios announcement from Eclipsys. Their new open platform solution looks pretty slick. Dramatic departure form most of the closed system approach of everyone else.

  4. Not surprised by your comment about military health. They do lots of things right, and the VA system is excellent. I guess government-run health care is pretty good.

  5. We thought the Admiral’s session rocked, too. It showed how an educational session can be informative, compelling, and totally devoid of marketing messages — and still drive tremendous booth traffic.

  6. Traveled a long long way to attend HIMSS. Found the military sessions the best among all. Always enjoy your party!! Too much $ss smoothing with the vendors…although I liked EPIC’s attendance, please keep it at arm’s distance.

  7. For those of us who attended David Blumenthal’s session via the remote video link in the overflow room, the video and audio were not in sync. The room moderator indicated that it was an ‘interoperability issue’, and ‘they were working on it’. 🙂

  8. Thanks for the update, due to training this week (that was canceled last week by the vendor) I wasn’t able to arrange to attend but this running commentary seems to be more informative than attending last year in Chicago. Although it lacks the opportunity to network.

    You’re right about Judy getting a few more cool points by attending, its not often she decides to make a non-scheduled event.

    By far the most informative part of this was the sit down with David Blumenthal, I’ll be excited if a standardized Master Patient Index was created. Even if its only as standardized as HL7!

  9. In addition to MEDecisions umbrella’s on Tuesday snow day they had some fabulous blue martini’s the first night. That went VERY nicely with the white carpet at their booth. As I had more martini’s I noticed more and more blue stains on the carpet – not it!

    On Base happy hour was awesome!

    I must have been asked 15 times at the HIStalk party if I was Inga. It must be because I was amongst only about 20 women in the whole place (and maybe because at least one person said I looked like her cartoon pic). It was definitely a higher men to women ratio! Good times!







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